Deuteronomy 5:5

5 while 1I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; 2for you were afraid because * of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,

Deuteronomy 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:5

I stood between the Lord and you at that time
Between the Word of the Lord and you, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, about that time, not at the exact precise time the ten commandments were delivered, for these were spoken immediately to the people; but when the ceremonial law was given, which was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator, ( Galatians 3:19 ) , and which was at the request of the people as follows, terrified by the appearance of the fire out of which the moral law was delivered:

to show you the word of the Lord;
not the decalogue, that they heard with their own ears, but the other laws which were afterwards given, that were of the ceremonial and judicial kind:

for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the
mount;
lest they should be consumed by it: and indeed bounds were set about the mount, and they were charged not to break through:

saying;
this word is in connection with the preceding verse, the Lord's talking out of the midst of the fire, when he said what follows.

Deuteronomy 5:5 In-Context

3 "The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today.
4 "The LORD spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire,
5 while I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD ; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,
6 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 'You shall have no other gods before Me.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Galatians 3:19
  • 2. Ex 19:16, 21-24; Exodus 20:18; Hebrews 12:18-21

Footnotes 1

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